New York Yankees

Via Bill Shaikin: The Angels have claimed Chris Nelson off waivers from the Yankees. New York designated the infielder for assignment when David Adams was called up this past week. Nelson, 27, hit .222/.243/.278 (36 wRC+) in 37 plate appearances for the Yankees after being acquired from the Rockies earlier this month. He finished up his tenure with the team with a nice little 8-for-26 (.308) road trip. The Yankees acquired infielder Reid Brignac from the Rockies earlier today, replacing Alberto Gonzalez. Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogAngels claim Chris Nelson off waivers from Yankees

In the building for Photo Day, Hal Steinbrenner lauded the first-place start by the Yankees. You could tell from his voice that the success of young call-ups from Scranton have invigorated ownership. “I can say it’s a good thing. There’s no doubt it’s a good thing,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m excited about it. I’m excited last night with Adams and Romine getting those hits. It’s a great thing to see. A lot of these kids you wouldn’t have seen this year, chances are. They would’ve played in Scranton all year long if the marquee players were all healthy.” With the cavalcade of stars sent to the DL so far, Steinbrenner admitted he was pleased with the club’s results. The Yankees are in first in the division, and opened today 10 games over .500. “Pleasantly surprised. I’m not shocked. I didn’t buy into the doomsday scenario that many people did,” Steinbrenner said. “I knew we had some good kids at Triple-A. More importantly, I knew that the guys we got in the offseason were veterans. Whether people thought they were worth getting or not, I felt they were veterans and this is what you expect veterans to do.” It’s no secret attendance at the Stadium and ratings on the YES Network are both down. Steinbrenner met with MLB officials today and said attendance had dipped across the sport. He hopes the new faces will pique the interest of fans now that the weather has improved. “The good stories that we’ve all known about on this club are going to be more well-known to the fan base,” he said. “I think people are going to be excited to come out and see the Adamses, the Romines, the Hafners and the players we got in the offseason.” Steinbrenner also said the organization will not negotiate with Joe Girardi during the season, but he praised the work of the manager and Brian Cashman, framing it in the obvious. “Both have done a great job,” he said. “There have been a lot of ups and downs to Triple-A and back, shuffling around players. They’ve done a great job, and Cash did a great job with the players we got in the offseason.” Steinbrenner did not want to delve into the future for Robinson Cano, but said he has met a couple times with Cano’s new agent, Brodie Van Wagenen of CAA Sports, a partner of Roc Nation, the company founded by Jay-Z. Steinbrenner deemed those meetings “procedural.” Although the Yankees have been burned by long-term deals in excess of $100 million in recent years, Steinbrenner said the market will dictate how long the club would be willing to go on a contract. He didn’t say it, but that’s clearly in consideration for Cano, who will turn 31 in October. “Anybody would get a little nervous if you get into a seven or eight-year deal,” Steinbrenner said. “It depends on the age of the player, too, I guess. Give an eight-year contract to a 34-year old — you probably wouldn’t do that, right? Twenty-five, 26?” Here are the rest of today’s notes: • Brian Cashman on if the slow progress of Kevin Youkilis was something to fear: “I hope not. He took batting practice again today. Obviously, he’s moving along slowly, but he’s moving along.” • For more on the acquisition of Reid Brignac, click here. It includes Cashman’s thoughts on Ben Francisco and why fans need to pipe down. • Girardi does not expect Travis Hafner (shoulder) to have any limitations. • Here’s Girardi on Chris Stewart: “He’s just doing treatment. He’s better. My hope is that we don’t need him today again and then we’ll talk about it tomorrow.” • As I said earlier, this is the 1,046th start of Curtis Granderson’s career, but his first ever in right field. Girardi talked to Granderson about playing right and said Granderson was fine with it. As you know, Granderson worked in right and left during his rehab stint. He played twice in left since returning on Tuesd

Twice this month, the Yankees have traded with the Rockies for a reserve infielder. New York acquired Reid Brignac from Colorado for cash considerations on Saturday, using the same avenue that brought Chris Nelson to the team on May 1.

YANKEES (26-16) Brett Gardner CF Robinson Cano 2B Vernon Wells LF Travis Hafner DH Lyle Overbay 1B Curtis Granderson RF Jayson Nix SS David Adams 3B Austin Romine C RHP David Phelps Phelps vs. Blue Jays BLUE JAYS (17-25) Melky Cabrera LF Jose Bautista RF Edwin Encarnacion DH J.P Arencibia C Adam Lind 1B Brett Lawrie 3B Colby Rasmus CF Maicer Izturis SS Emilio Bonifacio 2B RHP Brandon Morrow Morrow vs. Yankees TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES Network WEATHER: Temperatures are in the mid to high 60s. It’s cloudy, but there’s only a 10 percent chance of rain. UMPIRES: HP Rob Drake, 1B Sam Holbrook, 2B Joe West, 3B Andy Fletcher PECKING ORDER IN TACT VS. JAYS: The Blue Jays were expected to contend in the AL East this year, but the Yankees have won seven of the last eight between the teams this year. NO EXTRAS, THANK YOU: The Yankees will play one short today unless Reid Brignac arrives in time, but that isn’t expected. They acquired Brignac last night and DFA’d Alberto Gonzalez, but Brignac is still in transit. For their sake, they don’t want to go into extra innings tonight, that’s for sure. THEY HAVE HIS BACK: Yankee relievers have pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in support of Phelps during his three starts. I’ll have pregame notes in a bit. They were delayed because Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman were available prior to today’s game. Check back for more from Steinbrenner in a few minutes. In the meantime, I’ll post some updates here and on Twitter @LoHudYankees, which I will man today in Chad’s stead. The post Game 43: Yankees vs. Blue Jays appeared first on The LoHud Yankees Blog.

MYSTERY SOLVED: BEN FRANCISCO HAS NAKED PICTURES OF BRIAN CA$HMAN Ben Francisco survives!!! Gonzalez DFAed — Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) May 18, 2013 Cashman on Francisco said with a laugh: “In terms of your fans’ comments section, just say, ‘I’m holding on to him to piss everyone off,”+ — Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) May 18, 2013 Cashman (2 of 2) on Francisco: If you are dealing with the feedback, ‘Why is this guy here?’ Just tell them that, just to shut them up.” — Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) May 18, 2013 Cashman joked that he was holding onto Francisco “to piss everybody off.” He knows Francisco’s popularity with the fan base. — Lohud Yankees Blog (@LoHudYankees) May 18, 2013

(Elsa/Getty) The Yankees have won seven of their first eight games against the Blue Jays this year, which is pretty close to the best case scenario. Regardless of what happened elsewhere around the league, the Bombers had to take care of business against their division rivals if they wanted to compete despite all of the injury problems. They’ve certainly laid a beating on Toronto so far. Here’s the lineup the Yankees are running out there against right-hander Brandon Morrow… CF Brett Gardner 2B Robinson Cano LF Vernon Wells DH Travis Hafner 1B Lyle Overbay RF Curtis Granderson – first career start in right SS Jayson Nix 3B David Adams C Austin Romine And on the mound is the former Mat-Su Miner in the collegiate summer Alaska Baseball League, right-hander David Phelps. It’s a little overcast in New York, but there’s no threat of rain or anything. The game is scheduled to start a few minutes after 1pm ET and can be seen on YES. Enjoy. Eduardo Nunez Update: Nunez (ribcage) is expected to start hitting in the batting cage in a few days. He’s eligible to come off the DL next Tuesday, but David Adams’ nice start and the recently acquired Reid Brignac means there’s no need to rush him. Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blogGame 43: Beat the Jays

The Yankees keep on playing the Blue Jays, and despite all the hype, the Yankees have been able to hit them hard very early this season. The teams have now played 8 times and the Bombers have won 7 of those games. In the process, they've built up a 9 game lead in the standings against the AL East pre-season favorite. Although Toronto is struggling to reach a .500 record, if things start clicking, they can become a very admirable team, and this early lead is great insurance. Brett Gardner CF Robinson Cano 2B Vernon Wells LF Travis Hafner DH Lyle Overbay 1B Curtis Granderson RF Jayson Nix SS David Adams 3B Austin Romine C Yes, there's no Mark Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter, but I love this lineup. The Yankees have put up some stinkers in recent days, and at least this one goes six players deep before you get to Nix. Also notable is that Curtis Granderson will make his first appearance in right field. Brandon Morrow will square off against David Phelps at 1:05 PM, and you can catch the game on YES.

From the Heyman himself, the Yankees have reportedly traded for shortstop Reid Brignac, who was recently DFA'd by the Rockies. They're really cornering the market on DFA'd Rockies, aren't they? Chad Jennings of LoHud has not heard of anything heading back to the Rockies in the trade, but my guess is that will be just cash or a meaningless player to be named later, as it was in the Chris Nelson deal. Brignac is 27 years old and has been in the majors for six years now, and he was spending his first season away from the Tampa Bay Rays organization, which selected him in the second round of the 2004 MLB Draft. He's your classic all-field, no-hit shortstop, though he might have a little bit more pop than Alberto Gonzalez. Two of his eleven career dingers came in 10-5 victory over the Yankees on July 17, 2010, and another was a walk-off against the Meat Tray in a previously scoreless eleven-inning game. I'll have a little more on this in a bit. No word yet on who will be DFA'd to make room for him, but it almost has to be Gonzalez since they are essentially the same player.

Reid Brignac, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Yankees Need a Warm Body! Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweeted that the Yankees have acquired the utility infielder from the Colorado Rockies. Brignac was designated for assignment by the Rockies earlier this week and he was also let go by the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this spring. The Rockies are receiving $75,000 in cash considerations. Brignac is a utility infielder whose best position is shortstop. He batted .250/.294/.375/.669 with one home run and six RBI with the Rockies this season. UPDATE:  The Yankees have designated Alberto Gonzalez for assignment. Gonzalez was acquired by the Yankees two weeks ago but only had only nine plate appearances. He also pitched in relief during that awful game I had the misfortune of attending on Wednesday night.

CBS’ Jon Heyman reporting the Yankees have acquired utility infielder Reid Brignac from the Rockies. Brignac was designated for assignment by the Rockies earlier this week. He was let go by the Rays earlier this spring. No word yet on what the Yankees sent to Colorado in return. I’ll have more on the Brignac move in a bit, as well as some thoughts from Hal Steinbrenner, who is on the field with the rest of the team this morning for Photo Day. Brian Cashman is also at the park today. The post Yankees acquire Brignac appeared first on The LoHud Yankees Blog.